quired information essential to the discharge of its many ablest members of that body, in speaking of our rate structure, responsibilities. said: It must determine the cost of carrying the United States mail by rail as well as regulate commerce through the Panama Canal. The regulation of interstate motor-bus transportation and the consolidation of roads is sought to be included within its jurisdiction. I am firmly of the opinion that there is urgent need of a new system of rate making and no hope of it being achieved except under Federal control or with the Government owning the railroads. The so-called blanket grouping of communities, basing points, etc., growth of competititive conditions, in my humble opinion, make for favoritism and are highly uneconomic. In a word, the freight rate has been frequently used as a sort of protective tariff by means of which favored cities or communities have prospered at the expense of others. The freight rate should be made, under proper classification, on the basis of a terminal charge plus straight mileage cost. We are coming to it some day because it is the only just and logical plan, and I think the sooner it is perfected and adopted the better. BELOW COST RATES Under the existing system and due to competitive theories and ignorance of the actual cost of service, we have "belowcost" rates to prevent the active use of our inland waterways; 'below-cost" rates from coast to coast. We have import and export rates that barely cover the port-terminal service, much less the real haul and port-terminal charges. Then there is the valuation of the roads to be brought down and completed under the act of 1913. Again, there is the investigation to ascertain the efficient, economical, and honest administration of the roads as a factor in rate making, the machinery for which does not exist. The commission is disposing of between 1,400 and 1,500 complaints annually, and yet it is about two and one-half years behind in the hearing of complaints filed. As the number of complaints increase and the field of its activity enlarges, it will not be able to keep pace with the increasing number of complaints. The disposition of these complaints within a reasonable time will become humanly impossible, and we are fast approaching such a condition to-day. It is not necessary to give a complete list of its statutory duties to show that it is unreasonable to expect prompt and careful consideration of all matters referred to it. An enumeration of a few of its more important functions will suffice for that purpose. It must hold hearings and render decisions on complaints alleging violation of the interstate commerce act on new schedules of rates which have been suspended pending investigation, on applications for certificates of convenience and necessity covering proposed construction, extension, or abandonment, on applications for authority to issue securities, and on applications for authority for a road to acquire control of other roads. It must supervise the regulation of the general level of rates throughout the country to provide the fair return contemplated by section 15a of the interstate commerce act. It is required to enforce the provisions of the interstate commerce act for the recapture of earnings in excess of a fair return and for the administration of the fund resulting from such recap-low rates to some points and unreasonably high rates to others. ture. It must supervise and prescribe the methods of accounting for interstate railroads, which entails complicated work, such as that involved in the recent reclassification of carriers' accounts and the order concerning the establishment of depreciation reserves. It is charged with the enforcement of the various Federal laws for the promotion of safety, such as the hours of service act, the safety appliance acts, the boiler inspection act, and the provisions of the Interstate Commerce act concerning automatic train-control devices. It must decide applications for permission for a person to hold a position as officer or director of more than one carrier. It must execute various provisions of the Clayton Antitrust Act, relating to interstate carriers, including the supervision of dealings with other corporations having the same officers. During the year 1926 the commission conducted 1,584 hearings and took over 300,000 pages of testimony. From this brief statement of the volume of the work of the commission it clearly appears that it is physically impossible for the commissioners to give prompt and careful personal attention to the innumerable problems which require the exercise of legislative and judicial power. To a very large extent this work must be delegated to subordinates. NO SCIENTIFIC METHOD OF RATE MAKING The commission has not had sufficient time to develop a scientific method of rate making. Thus far our rate making has been by guess and by God, with the emphasis on the last two words. It recalls the story of a little girl in western Kansas, who at her morning prayers, as she was about to return to her Missouri home, said: "Good-by, God, we are going back to Missouri." Her wicked brother, who happened to overhear her and was jubilant at the idea of returning home, used the same words in a sentence, but not with the same emphasis. He said: "Good, by God, we are going back to Missouri." RATE FIXED BY AGREEMENT Neither the commission, the experts, the shippers, nor the public have any accurate knowledge of the mileage cost of transportation in any section of the country. Where no objections are filed, rates are fixed by agreement between representatives of shippers and by the traffic associations of the roads. Special interests employ traffic experts to haggle down their own rates, without regard to the additional burdens that those rates settle upon the vast multitude of small shippers, with little knowledge of rates or with too small an interest to warrant the employment of traffic experts. RULE FOR RATE MAKING Edgar E. Clark, a member of the Interstate Commerce Commission for 15 or more years and recognized as one of the AN EQUITABLE METHOD SHOULD BE ADOPTED According to exhibits in a pending port investigation covering Atlantic and Gulf ports, the losses upon such classes of traffic are so great as to destroy the small margin of profit upon a vastly greater volume of traffic. The plan to ascertain transportation costs under average conditions in every section of the country is feasible and should be worked out. It would settle the long-and-short-haul controversy and the railroad intercoastal problem, protect inland waterways, conserve railroad transportation, and eliminate the transportation waste. Lastly, it would provide an equitable basis for the establishment of rates for all shippers alike where we now have unreasonably In the language of President Coolidge it would meet the imperative need of the country An entire reorganization of the rate structure for freight and thus relieve in a large degree the depressed condition of agriculture. To entirely reorganize the rate structure for freight as suggested by President Coolidge and revise and readjust the rates so as to reapportion the burdens of commerce in rail transit equitably alike to every section and industry is a task of such magnitude and importance to the country as to require years in its performance, in study and attention for its continuous adjustment. It alone is of such character and of such vital importance to all the people and every section of the country as to require the undivided attention of an administrative agency. With our present machinery overloaded as it is we can not hope for such an accomplishment during the next decade. The only alternative for such relief, as suggested by the President, is to provide for additional machinery of administration. The existing law should be amended so as to provide for the appointment by the President of three resident deputy commissioners for each of the rate-making groups, with power and specific directions to proceed at once with the revision and readjustment of the freight rates in their respective districts, the Interstate Commerce Commission to be given equalization jurisdiction and power to modify and adjust by raises and decreases, so as to secure and preserve uniform rate level, not only for the district but for the entire country; also to have and exercise original and exclusive jurisdiction over intergroup rates and appellate jurisdiction on the record to hear and determine all complaints on appeal from deputy commissioners; the deputy commissioners in each district to have exclusive original jurisdiction over all complaints, limited to those originating and ending in their group; and the Interstate Commerce Commission to have exclusive jurisdiction to hear and determine all intergroup complaints, or complaints including intergroup rates. Such additional machinery would unload the present commission of much of its detailed and intricate work. It would provide a convenient tribunal in every section of the country to hear and determine group complaints, thousands of which are endured and never filed because of their small amount and the expenditure and length of time required in presenting them to the commission so far distant. It would afford a complainant a hearing direct before a commissioner responsible to the people and do away with the unsatisfactory procedure of hearing before examiners. It would be setting up procedure in transportation proceedings similar to that which we now have in the civil courts. In addition to the above it would provide an agency to proceed at once to the very heart of the Nation's need-revision and readjustment of rates. The Interstate Commerce Commission, thus relieved, would be able to meet the heavy and exacting demands of the intricate and complex problems presented by consolidation of roads, so important to every section of the country. In addition it would be able to render a more efficient administration in its many other fields that will continue to increase in number and importance with the rapidly growing commerce of the country. More than any other class the farmers are vitally interested in the immediate revision and readjustment of freight rates. They are the only class that is compelled to pay the freight both ways-on everything they sell and everything they buy. In 1927 they paid approximately $1,000,000,000 in freight rates on their farm products. This did not include forest products. This represented 10 per cent of the total cash income from the sale of farm products and 18.7 per cent of the estimated net farm income for that year. Of the total volume of freight transported over the railroads during 1927, the farmers furnished 11 per cent, and yet by the horizontal increases in freight rates they were compelled to pay 19.8 per cent of the total freight revenues of the roads. The immediate revision and readjustment of rates on farm products in the Mid West will afford the farmers immediate substantial relief. The reduction in rates will be reflected direct to the farmers in higher prices for their products and a reduction in the prices of their farm implements, building material, and the manufactured goods they purchase from the East. Here is a method of relief that is workable, sound, and constitutional. The commission is clothed with full power to initiate such revision and readjustment. It needs no additional grant of power from the Congress. Will it drop for the time being the multitude of duties of lesser importance and proceed with its plain duty in this respect as requested by the President five years ago? [Applause.] The CHAIRMAN. The time of the gentleman from Oklahoma has expired. Mr. HOWARD of Oklahoma. Mr. Chairman, I ask unanimous consent that the gentleman may proceed for five additional minutes. The CHAIRMAN. Is there objection to the request of the gentleman from Oklahoma? Mr. TARVER. Mr. Chairman, reserving the right to object, there are some of us here that have amendments which are vital to our section of the country and upon which we are being denied the right to be heard. If the gentleman's time is extended, it will prevent us from having any opportunity to discuss our amendments; therefore I shall be compelled to object. Mr. GARBER. I thank the gentleman for his courteous consideration. [Applause.] Mr. ROBINSON of Iowa. Mr. Chairman and my colleagues, the bill we are now considering, H. R. 13512, introduced by Mr. DENISON, of Illinois, provides for certain amendments and improvements to the act of June 3, 1924, creating the Inland Waterways Corporation. It increases the capital from five million to fifteen million dollars for the purpose of providing additional equipment—that is, barges and towboats-that is now needed to handle the freight business now being offered to the Barge Line, and to provide the necessary equipment for certain extensions already authorized by law and under process of construction. Mr. DENISON, the author of the bill, has already explained its provisions in clear, understandable language. Because of my limited time I shall not attempt to cover the same facts, but briefly to call your attention to the great need of Iowa and the Middle West for this legislation. To us of that great section transportation is a very vital thing. We are located in the central part of this great country. To reach the markets of the world, to reach the markets of the thickly populated sections of our own country, to reach the markets of the manufacturing and industrial sections of our country, to bring their products to us, to take our products to them, transportation is absolutely necessary and all essential. We are proud of our producing ability; of the fact that we furnish America, and to some extent we furnish the world, with the choice things of life, a superior quality of food, of agricultural products. Iowa and the States adjoining and near by supply America with the food products that make life and living worth while, but we must get these products to you, and this means transportation. We are your great market for your products and will consume them in ever-increasing quantity, thus furnishing you the best market the world offers. This all requires transportation. Life in Iowa might almost be described as just one shipment We ship in-we ship out; this constant, neverafter another. ending shipment or movement of our commodities out and your commodities in-producing, consuming-this exchange of products means prosperity to us of all sections if it be had in the right proportion and at right prices. Water transportation is the cheapest transportation known. For bulky, heavy commodities for which rapid transportation is not necessary water transportation is especially adapted. The record shows that this class of commodities can be transported by water at about one-third of the cost of moving them by rail. For sugar, grains, coal, iron ore, steel products, cement, building material, lumber, canned foods, and a multitude of similar products transportation by water will mean a large saving. For years our Government has been spending large sums to We have spent about $250,000,000 improving bring this about. our rivers. Of what value is it unless we use these rivers? This work is not completed, but it is completed sufficiently to prove its immense value, as shown by transportation on the lower Mississippi River and on the Ohio River. The upper Mississippi is now ready for this barge service. The channel still needs additional improving and the Government has already provided for it; barges and towboats are now in use on the upper Mississippi but in limited numbers, insufficient to handle the freight business that is offered. We need more barges and more towboats. This bill provides the funds to secure them. Dubuque, Iowa, in my district-a fine, alert, progressive, prosperous city of about 50,000 population-is now completing a dock and terminal system, costing from four hundred to five hundred thousand dollars, to handle incoming and outgoing freight on this barge line. We there have a joint rail rate that carries some of the benefit of the reduced rates into the interior of the country. This is an essential factor in the transportation problem and this bill provides for its extension. It is greatly to the credit of cities like Dubuque and others that they have used their credit and their money to build modern dock and terminal facilities and lease them to the Inland Waterways Corporation at a low rental for use of the barge line and connecting rail carriers. Without these facilities a demonstration of the usefulness of the barge line would be almost, if not entirely, impossible. It is not the purpose of those who favor this legislation to keep the Government permanently in the water transportation business. Our purpose is just the opposite-to have the Government dispose of the barge line to the best advantage possible as soon as conditions are such that private capital and business can be induced to take it over and operate it under conditions somewhat similar to those required of other carriers-that all carrier business, rail and water, shall be operated by private business under regulation of the Interstate Commerce Commission in the interest of the whole Nation. The report of the Interstate and Foreign Commerce Committee on this bill gives the following: DECLARATION OF POLICY Paragraph (c) of the bill is a declaration of the policy of Congress with reference to the continuance of the operations of the Inland Waterways Corporation and provides the conditions under which the operation of such service by the Government may be terminated and the facilities of the corporation disposed of. It states that it is the policy of Congress to continue the transportation service of the corporation until the following conditions shall have been met: (1) There shall have been completed in the rivers where the corporation operates navigable channels, as authorized by Congress, adequate for reasonably dependable transportation service thereon; (2) terminal facilities shall have been provided on such rivers reasonably adequate for joint rail and water service; (3) there shall have been published and filed under the provisions of the interstate commerce act such joint tariffs with rail carriers as shall make generally available the privileges of joint rail and water transportation upon terms reasonably fair to both rail and water carriers; and (4) private persons, companies, or corporations are ready and willing to engage in common-carrier service on such rivers. This paragraph of the bill declares the policy of Congress. By this provision Congress announces to the cities along the Mississippi and its tributaries that the service of the corporation will be continued until suitable channels shall have been completed and suitable terminals shall have been provided. These cities will not incur the heavy expenditures for the construction of terminals without some assurance that transportation service will be provided. Modern water transportation by barges and towboats requires a special type of terminal for the exchange of traffic. Such terminals are very expensive, and there can be no private operation of water transportation until such terminals are available. The Government is endeavoring, through the operations of the Inland Waterways Corporation, to encourage the development of transportation on the inland waterways of the country and its operation | transportation from the interior to the seaboard will be largely overcome by private interests. For this purpose Congress announces to the States and municipalities along this river system that the Government will provide this service, and it invites such States or municipalities to construct suitable terminals to the end that private capital may be attracted to invest in the water transportation business. THE RIVERS ARE OUR NATIONAL HIGHWAYS The United States has a larger system of navigable rivers than any other country in the world. These rivers are the Nation's natural highways, over which, by the Constitution, the Federal Government is given jurisdiction in the interest of commerce. From our early history it has been the policy of the Government to improve these highways for navigation; we have now expended $250,000,000 from the Public Treasury deepening the channels, revetting the banks, and otherwise improving our rivers for commerce. Sixty million dollars more will be required to complete them. The Monongahela River has already been completed and now more commerce is transported over that river than any other river of the same size in the world. The Warrior River has been completed and is now available for transportation from BirmingThe Ohio port near Birmingham to Mobile, a distance of 440 miles. River will soon be completed. Work is now progressing on Dams 52 and 53, and when these dams are completed the Ohio River will be canalized from Pittsburgh to Cairo; and as the work progresses commerce is getting ready to use this great river. The Mississippi has been practically completed from Cairo to the Gulf, and work is now progressing on the upper Mississippi, the Missouri, and the Illinois. But the country will never realize any benefits from the money that has already been expended in the improvement of these rivers until their improvement has been completed. Now, for what purpose has Congress expended this vast amount of money? Why are we still spending $50,000,000 a year on our rivers and harbors? It has been done in the hope that when improved they would serve as free highways for the Nation's commerce; and this vast expenditure will have been totally lost if commerce is not put back on the rivers when they are improved. In former years there was considerable commerce on our rivers, transported largely by the old packet steamers; but years ago the packet steamers were driven from the rivers by the competition of the railroads, and commerce practically disappeared from our inland waterways. The Water transportation is the cheapest transportation that is known. The cheapest transportation in the world is on the Great Lakes. Inland Waterways Corporation is transporting freight on the Mississippi and Warrior Rivers at a substantial profit for about 4 mills per ton-mile, while the average rail rate in this country is 11 mills per ton-mile. It is impossible for the railroads to transport freight as cheaply as it can be transported by water. The older countries of Europe appreciated the economy of water transportation generations ago and have utilized their rivers and canals as their principal means of transportation. The cheaper transportation made available by the operations of the Inland Waterways Corporation on the Mississippi River from St. Louis to New Orleans has resulted in a direct saving to the farmers of the Middle West of from 1% to 3 cents a bushel on their wheat. It can readily be seen what a possibility for substantial | savings there will be for the farmers of the country if this service can be made more generally available by improving the tributaries of the Mississippi and developing privately owned transportation thereon. The principal difficulty in recent years with American agriculture has been that our great farming area lies so far in the interior of the country that the cost of transporting supplies from the seaboard to the farming communities and of transporting the products of the farm to the seaboard has largely wiped out the farmers' profits. In the Argentine Republic and in Australia and other countries which compete with the United States in agricultural products the agricultural sections are located near the sea, and the farmers do not suffer from the high cost of rail transportation, as is the case in the United States. Another result of the vastness of our territory and the location of our great farming interests in the interior of the country has been the inability of our interior communities to build up and support industries, and the unnatural concentration of industrial development along our seaboard. This requires the agricultural communities to pay high rail transportation on all the supplies they have to buy and high rail transportation on all the products they have to sell. If great industries could be located in the interior part of the country, if population could be increased nearer the agricultural regions, so that agriculture could find a market for its products nearer home and could purchase its supplies from sources nearer home, the burden of transportation would be largely eliminated and agriculture in this country would to that extent be rehabilitated. These natural difficulties to our agricultural sections can be largely overcome by the improvement of our rivers and by providing the interior sections of our country with cheaper transportation which our great inland waterways can afford. It is believed by the committee that with the development of our inland waterways and the return of commerce thereon the great interior sections of the country will be developed industrially, and will be made more accessible to the sea, and the burden of expensive rail It is said by some of the best transportation men of the country that the transportation business of the United States will double every 15 years or less. It is the duty of Congress to look to the future and encourage the development of adequate transportation facilities to care for this increasing commerce, of the country. The development of commerce on our waterways will do no serious injury to the railroads. It will merely afford a supplemental system to aid the railroads in taking care of the commerce of the future. And it is certainly the duty of Congress to encourage the development of any kind of transportation that will promise to the people of the country, and particularly of the agricultural sections, a cheaper form of transportation. So, looking forward to the future and realizing the rapid growth of our population and the inevitable increase in the transportation business of the country, and appreciating the desirability of affording to the country the cheapest possible transportation that can be made available, the committee believes that it will be wise for Congress to do what it reasonably can to further carry out the purposes expressed in section 500 of the transportation act of 1920 and carry on for a while the work now being done by the Inland Waterways Corporation, with a view to removing as fast as possible those conditions which have in the past prevented, and are still preventing, the investment of private capital in transportation facilities on our inland waterways. The Inland Waterways Corporation has been doing splendid work. It is showing to the country the practicability and the economy of water transportation. It is developing suitable types of barges and towboats for the different rivers and the most economical use of fuels for such facilities. It is developing the most suitable and economical terminal facilities, and is showing to the country the economies that will be available by the joint use of rail and water service. With these obstacles largely overcome, it is the belief of the Committee on Interstate and Foreign Commerce that private capital will readily invest in transportation on our waterways; the Government will have done its full duty in fostering such transportation, and can then dispose of the facilities of the corporation and withdraw from this service which has been so necessary and which it is now carrying on with the promise of such marked success. This transportation by water is not for the purpose of harming other and very necessary transportation, but that together, working in harmony, rail and water transportation, may bring to our people cheaper transportation for the class of commodities that can as well be transported in this slower way in large bulk and quantity and help solve the problem of freight facilities for the increased transportation business of the future. It is not a very large thing that we are asking of you. The Middle West is entitled to a fair trial of river freight transportation. It has already proven its success on the lower Mississippi. We believe it will prove it on the upper Mississippi, and that together, upper and lower Mississippi, and tributaries its success will be still greater, and the ultimate benefit to our people of all sections of our country will be well worthy of the effort. [App'ause.] Mr. WRIGHT. Mr. Chairman, I offer an amendment. The CHAIRMAN. The gentleman from Georgia offers an amendment, which the Clerk will report. 66 The Clerk read as follows: Amendment offered by Mr. WRIGHT: Page 3, line 1, after the word any," strike out the words "tributary or "; also strike out all of line 2, on page 3, up to the word "not," and insert in lieu thereof the words "navigable river or waterway of the United States." Mr. WRIGHT. Mr. Chairman and gentlemen of the committee, under the provision of this bill it is sought to extend this barge-line service on tributaries of the Mississippi, not including the Ohio. Heretofore, as I understand it, the service has been confined to the Mississippi and to certain streams in the State of Alabama, including the Warrior River. This bill proposes to maintain this service, but in addition to extend it to tributaries of the Mississippi River, not including the Ohio. Gentlemen of the committee, why make a ward or a pet of the tributaries of the Mississippi River and treat every other river in the United States as an orphan and an outcast? Mr. WYANT. Will the gentleman yield? Mr. WRIGHT. I will. Mr. WYANT. The shippers along the Monongahela, the Allegheny, and the Ohio do not want the operation of Government barges in those rivers. They appeared before the committee and protested against it. Mr. WRIGHT. I do not know what they want out there, but I know various States in the United States would very much like to have this barge-line service extended. Mr. ABERNETHY. And we want it on the inland waterway. Mr. WRIGHT. Yes. This does not mean that just any river in the United States would be eligible, but it means a river which may become navigable and a river which meets the requirements laid down in this bill. So why exclude every river in the United States except tributaries of the Mississippi, especially in view of what we have just done for the Mississippi and the people in that great section. I think this bill is absolutely discriminatory and should not pass the House in this form. If this service is good for transportation on the Mississippi and its tributaries, why not for every waterway of the United States? [Applause.] The CHAIRMAN. The question is on the amendment offered by the gentleman from Georgia. The question was taken, and the amendment was rejected. Mr. LAGUARDIA. Mr. Chairman, I offer the following amendment. The Clerk read as follows: Amendment by Mr. LAGUARDIA: Page 4, line 11, after the word "carriers," strike out the semicolon and insert a period and strike out the remainder of the paragraph. Mr. LAGUARDIA. Mr. Chairman, inasmuch as time is limited. I will only take three minutes. Mr. Chairman, I am in sympathy with this bill, but I am not in accord with the policy stated by the sponsors of the bill and intended to enact into law that the purpose or policy of the Government is to inaugurate this barge service, build it up, operate if the returns show a loss, and when the operation is at such profit-paying basis as to invite private persons, companies, or corporations to express their willingness to carry on the service, then immediately and automatically put the Government out of business. I am for Government operation of transportation, and I do not hesitate to say so. I will be frank about it. Now, let me point out, with such a policy in the law, I am sure the committee does not want to go as far as this bill does, any time a private company or corporation is willing to take up the service because it is profitable the Government may, by the commitment contained in the bill, be compelled to cease operations and turn the business over to private operation. I do not see why you can not strike out that expression of policy and let a future Congress decide if the Government is to go out of business. I do not believe that after the Government has initiated and built up the service it should give it up. If the Government is to operate it, build it up, and sustain the losses, let us provide that the Government shall operate when it is profitable. I want to say that many of the sponsors of this measure are the most rabid anti-Government operation men, including the distinguished chairman of the committee, my colleague from New York [Mr. PARKER], and yet they are people who come here and say that this river transportation is necessary, that we have got to have it, that private corporations or private initiative will not take hold of it, that we have got to do it, and we have to increase the capitalization and are going to do it; but as soon as it is a profitable, paying business, as soon as that private company or corporation expresses a desire to carry on the operation, then we will go out of the business. Then after this pioneer work is over, it will be pointed out that the Government operated at a loss and private companies at a profit. That is not fair. [Applause.] The CHAIRMAN. The question is on the amendment offered by the gentleman from New York [Mr. LAGUARDIA]. The question was taken, and the amendment was rejected. Mr. TARVER. Mr. Chairman, I have an amendment which I have sent to the desk. The Clerk read as follows: Amendment by Mr. TARVER: Page 3, line 2, after the word "waterway," insert the words "of the Mobile River or." Mr. TARVER. Mr. Chairman, this amendment is vital to that part of the country which I have the honor to represent. At this time the Inland Waterways Corporation is operating on the Mississippi River, and also on the Mobile River and the Tombigbee River and the Warrior River. It operates on every river of the Mobile River system except the Alabama-Coosa, a tributary of that system that runs 750 miles into northwest Georgia on which there originates commerce worth $200,000,000 annually. You are extending the benefits of this law to tributaries of the Mississippi which may in the future become navigable, and if you are going to extend it to every tributary of that river why should you exclude the tributaries of the Mobile River which do not receive these benefits now? I am asking you for fair treatment in behalf of this great country from which I come. I am asking you not to discriminate against these people that would be benefited by the operation of barge lines on the Alabama-Coosa River. I ask you to extend the benefits of this law to all the tributaries of the Mobile River, including the Alabama-Coosa River extending 750 miles into my district from the Mobile, as you are proposing to extend them to tributaries of the Mississippi. In common with other Members of Congress from my State and my section I have been supporting all legislation proposed in the interest of the Mississippi Valley people. I have felt a deep interest in their problems and I have tried to work in cooperation with them. I now appeal to their Representatives not to vote to discriminate against the people living along this tributary of the Mobile River, but to include that tributary as you have included all tributaries of the Mobile River system with this exception, and to authorize, when it shall be made navigable, operation of barge lines thereon by the Inland Waterways Corporation in the same manner that you are authorizing such operation on tributaries of the Mississippi. The CHAIRMAN. The question is on the amendment offered by the gentleman from Georgia. The question was taken; and on a division (demanded by Mr. TARVER) there were-ayes 35, noes 81. So the amendment was rejected. Mr. PARKER. Mr. Chairman, I ask unanimous consent that all debate upon this section and all amendments thereto be now closed. Mr. Chairman, I do not want to interfere to be heard for a very few minutes on this Mr. BURTON. but I should like proposition. Mr. PARKER. Under an agreement I was forced to make by the House, I agreed to move to rise in 30 minutes. If the gentleman wants to force me to make that motion, I shall have to do it. Mr. BURTON. Mr. Chairman, I do not feel like taking that responsibility, but I do regard the debate upon this bill as very insufficient. The CHAIRMAN. The gentleman from New York asks unanimous consent that debate upon this section and all amendments thereto do now close. Is there objection? There was no objection. Mr. ANDRESEN. Mr. Chairman, I offer the following amendment, which I send to the desk. The Clerk read as follows: Amendment offered by Mr. ANDRESEN Page 3, line 3, after the word "been" insert the words "completed or." The CHAIRMAN. The question is on agreeing to the amendment. The amendment was agreed to. Mr. HUDSON. Mr. Chairman, I offer the following amendment, which I send to the desk. The Clerk read as follows: Amendment by Mr. HUDSON: Page 3, line 1, strike out, beginning with line 1, all the following lines, including line 23. The CHAIRMAN. amendment. The question is on agreeing to the The question was taken; and on a division (demanded by Mr. HUDSON) there were-ayes 7, noes 62. So the amendment was rejected. Mr. McDUFFIE. Mr. Chairman, I offer the following amendment, which I send to the desk and ask to have read. The Clerk read as follows: Amendment by Mr. McDUFFIE: Page 2, line 2, after the word "river," insert the words "and the Warrior River system." The CHAIRMAN. The question is on agreeing to the amendment. Mr. DENISON offers the following amendment: Page 1, line 7, after the figures "1924," insert the following: "(152, ch. 2, title 49, Code of Laws of the United States; ch. 243, vol. 43, p. 360, United Statutes at Large)." The CHAIRMAN. The question is on agreeing to the amendment. The amendment was agreed to. The Clerk read as follows: Amendment by Mr. DENISON: Page 4, line 22, after the word "facilities," insert a comma and the following words: "or any unit thereof." Mr. DENISON. That amendment, Mr. Chairman, will authorize the sale or lease of the corporation's facilities on the Warrior River, which is one unit, separately from the facilities of the corporation on the Mississippi River and its tributaries, which is or will be a separate unit. The amendment was agreed to. The Clerk read as follows: cor Amendment by Mr. DENISON: Page 5, line 7, after the word poration," strike out the semicolon and insert a comma and the following words: "together with ample security by bond or otherwise to insure the faithful performance of such agreement." Great Lakes and their connecting and tributary waters, enacted February 8, 1895 (ch. 64, 28 Stat. L., sec. 645). MESSAGE FROM THE SENATE A message from the Senate, by Mr. Craven, its principal clerk, announced that the Senate had passed without amendment bills Mr. DENISON. That amendment, as well as one similar to of the House of the following titles: the last one, was asked by the Secretary of War. The amendment was agreed to. H. R. 8314. An act to amend an act of Congress approved March 4, 1927 (Public, No. 795, 69th Cong.), to provide for Mr. HOCH. Mr. Chairman, I offer the following perfecting appointment as warrant officers of the Regular Army of such amendment, which I send to the desk. The Clerk read as follows: Amendment by Mr. HоCH: Page 5, line 25, strike out the words and figures "subsection 3" and insert " paragraph (3)." The CHAIRMAN. The question is on agreeing to the amendment. The amendment was agreed to. Mr. PARKER. Mr. Chairman, I move that the committee do now rise and report the bill back to the House with the amendments, with the recommendation that the amendments be agreed to and that the bill as amended do pass. The motion was agreed to. Accordingly the committee rose; and the Speaker having resumed the chair, Mr. FROTHINGHAM, Chairman of the Committee of the Whole House on the state of the Union, reported that that committee had had under consideration the bill (H. R. 13512) to amend the act entitled "An act to create the Inland Waterways Corporation for the purpose of carrying out the mandate and purpose of Congress, as expressed in sections 201 and 500 of the transportation act, and for other purposes," approved June 3, 1924, and had directed him to report the same back with sundry amendments, with the recommendation that the amendments be agreed to and that the bill as amended do pass. The SPEAKER. Under the rule the previous question is ordered. Is a separate vote demanded on any amendment? If not, the Chair will put them in gross. The question is on agreeing to the amendments. The amendments were agreed to. The bill as amended was ordered to be engrossed and read a third time, was read the third time, and passed. On motion of Mr. PARKER, a motion to reconsider the vote by which the bill was passed was laid on the table. MESSAGES FROM THE PRESIDENT Sundry messages in writing from the President of the United States were presented to the House of Representatives by Mr. Latta, one of his secretaries, who also announced that on the following dates the President approved and signed bills of the House of the following titles: On May 16, 1928: H. R. 441. An act to authorize an appropriation to pay half the cost of a bridge and road on the Hoopa Valley Reservation, Calif.; H. R. 4588. An act authorizing an appropriation for the repair and resurfacing of roads on the Fort Baker Military Reservation, Calif.; H. R. 4619. An act for the relief of E. A. Clatterbuck; H. R. 5297. An act for the relief of Christine Brenzinger; H. R. 5935. An act for the relief of the McAteer Shipbuilding Co. (Inc.) H. R. 8810. An act for the relief of John L. Nightingale; H. R. 11809. An act to authorize an appropriation to complete the purchase of real estate in Hawaii; H. R. 11960. An act for the relief of D. George Shorten; H. R. 12899. An act authorizing the erection for the sole use of the Pan American Union of an office building on the square of land lying between Eighteenth Street, C Street, and Virginia Avenue NW., in the city of Washington, D. C. ; H. R. 4303. An act for the relief of the Smith Tablet Co., of Holyoke, Mass.; H. R. 9481. An act making appropriations for the Executive Office and sundry independent executive bureaus, boards, commissions, and offices for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1929, and for other purposes; H. R. 10067. An act for the relief of Marion Banta; and H. R. 10799. An act for the lease of land and the erection of a post office at Philippi, W. Va., and for other purposes. On May 17, 1928: H. R. 7459. An act to authorize the appropriations for use by the Secretary of Agriculture of certain funds for wool standards, and for other purposes; H. R. 13032. An act to amend the act of February 8, 1895, entitled "An act to regulate navigation on the Great Lakes and their connecting and tributary waters"; and H. R. 13037. An act to amend section 1, rule 2, rule 3, subdivision (e), and rule 9 of an act to regulate navigation on the persons as would have been eligible therefor but for the interruption of their status, caused by military service rendered by them as commissioned officers during the World War; H. R. 10363. An act to provide for the construction or purchase of two L boats for the War Department; H. R. 10364. An act to provide for the construction or purchase of two motor mine yawls for the War Department; H. R. 10365. An act to provide for the construction or purchase of one heavy seagoing Air Corps retriever for the War Department; and H. R. 10786. An act authorizing surveys and investigations to determine the best methods and means of utilizing the waters of the Gila River and its tributaries above the San Carlos Reservoir in New Mexico and Arizona. The message also announced that the Senate agrees to the amendment of the House of Representatives to the bill (S. 3057) authorizing the Secretary of War to transfer and convey to the Portland Water District, a municipal corporation, the water pipe line, including the submarine water main connecting Fort McKinley, Me., with the water system of the Portland Water District, and for other purposes. The message further announced that the Senate disagrees to the amendments of the House of Representatives to the joint resolution (S. J. Res. 46) providing for the completion of Dam No. 2 and the steam plant at nitrate plant No. 2 in the vicinity of Muscle Shoals for the manufacture and distribution of fertilizer, and for other purposes, agrees to a conference with the House on the disagreeing votes of the two Houses thereon, and appoints Mr. McNARY, Mr. NORRIS, and Mr. SMITH to be the conferees on the part of the Senate. The message also announced that the Senate had passed a bill of the following title, in which the concurrence of the House of Representatives was requested: S. 3676. An act authorizing the Turtle Mountain Chippewas to submit claims to the Court of Claims. The message further announced that the Senate agrees to the report of the committee of conference on the disagreeing votes of the two Houses on the amendments of the Senate to the bill (H. R. 11133) making appropriations for the government of the District of Columbia and other activities chargeable in whole or in part against the revenues of such District for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1929, and for other purposes. The message also announced that the Senate agrees to the amendments of the House of Representatives to the amendments of the Senate Nos. 46, 56, and 57 to the bill (H. R. 11133) making appropriations for the government of the District of Columbia and other activities chargeable in whole or in part against the revenues of such District for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1929, and for other purposes, and that the Senate recedes from its amendment No. 1 to said bill. REAPPORTIONMENT OF REPRESENTATIVES Mr. MICHENER. Mr. Speaker, by direction of the Committee on Rules, I call up House Resolution 207, which I send to the desk and ask to have read. The Clerk read as follows: House Resolution 207 Resolved, That upon the adoption of this resolution it shall be in order to move that the House resolve itself into the Committee of the Whole House on the state of the Union for the consideration of H. R. 11725, a bill for the apportionment of Representatives in Congress. That after general debate, which shall be confined to the bill and shall continue not to exceed three hours, to be equally divided and controlled by those favoring and opposing the bill, the bill shall be read for amendment under the five-minute rule. At the conclusion of the reading of the bill for amendment the committee shall arise and report the bill to the House with such amendments as may have been adopted, and the previous question shall be considered as ordered on the bill and the amendments thereto to final passage without intervening motion except one motion to recommit. Mr. MICHENER. Mr. Speaker, this resolution makes in order the bill H. R. 11725, which is commonly known as the reapportionment bill. By the terms of the Constitution a Federal census is taken once every 10 years. By the terms of the same Constitution it is contemplated that this Congress |